Neil Hughes
Equity mutual fund Fidelity Contrafund, the largest active Apple shareholder, has cut its stake in the company by 10 percent.
The $92 billion fund, run by portfolio manager Will Danoff, reduced his stake in Apple over the first two months of 2013, according to Reuters. Fidelity Contrafund went from 11.56 million shares of AAPL at the end of 2012 to 10.43 million shares at the end of February.
The selloff pushed Apple to No. 2, behind Google, on the mutual fund's list of largest holdings. Google now accounts for 5.8 percent of the fund's assets, while Apple takes up 5.2 percent.
The change reflects the fact that Google recently passed Apple as the top U.S.-based mutual and hedge fund holding. A study released last month found that Google was the most-owned stock by the 50 largest actively managed mutual funds in America.
Shares of AAPL were off more than 2 percent in Monday morning trading, and the company's stock fallen nearly 33 percent over the last six months, since the launch of the iPhone 5.
Analysts and market watchers have expressed concern that Apple's growth is slowing, particularly in the highly competitive smartphone market where Google's Android has become the global market share leader. Some have even predicted that Apple could miss its own guidance for its just-concluded March quarter.
The company's recent stock woes have prompted some investors to clamor for a higher dividend financed by the company's $137 billion-and-growing cash reserves. Market watchers are also eagerly awaiting Apple's next moves in multiple markets, including the potential for a cheaper iPhone model, and the prospect of new products like a smart wristwatch and a full-fledged television set.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Wesley Hilliard
Bon Adamson
Thomas Sibilly
137 Comments
Go~ private! *clap clap clap* Go~ private! *clap clap clap*
How often does one read dire news for a company, such as 'Some have even predicted that Apple could miss its own guidance for its just-concluded March quarter' followed by 'The company's recent stock woes have prompted some investors to clamor for a higher dividend financed by the company's $137 billion-and-growing cash reserves'. These statements seem diametrically opposed and speak strongly to the odd nature of Apple's dilemma I feel. Perhaps FC should have increased its stake.
I am all for Apple going private as well. LOL
Illuminati, their agenda is clear, they've got plenty of money to loose if they need and after all these games make them more money - clearly political. Being a company of the Light, Apple has been having no rest being attacked by the somber ones. I also feel Apple should start moving towards going private, however it cannot sell its soul like Michael Dell most probably is now doing. Apple is attacked because of its integrity, it's not willing to pay up journalists etc for good press and everybody is now eyeing their growing 137B treasure chest - even the name indicates how coveted it is by the greedy ones. I say Apple grows it endlessly until it can buy itself back - however I'd see it with good eyes they'd change it into several different currencies and physical gold, wouldn't the worst happen to the USD currency... Hang in there, this media frenzy is really just noise - AAPL will surely break the USD1000 soon, they know it and they're playing for highest profits possible. BUY! (Attackers to this post define themselves)
Last time I checked, APPL made more money last quarter than any tech company in history. If anything, Google is in most trouble as Android continues to be forked and shutting them out of the revenue streams in customer data. Android is a break even proposition for them as desktop search has already peaked.